In a new twist to the Indian automobile sector, the demand for two wheelers shot up in last two days, all thanks to steep discounts by the makers following the Supreme Court ban on Bharat Stage-III (BS-III) vehicles to curb vehicular pollution.

As per the SC verdict, sale and registration of BS-III model vehicles will no longer be permitted, and new vehicles have to legally comply with BS-IV norms, with effect from April 1.

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The nationwide rush for two wheelers was witnessed after two giant automobile leaders of India, Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India announced a discount up to Rs.12,500 on BS-III model motorbikes to clear off their last stock before the end of the financial year 2016-17.

Soon after, another two-wheeler company TVS Motor offered discount between Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000 on some of its BS-III models.

Superbike manufacturers Ducati and Triumph, too followed the trend by offering discounts up to Rs.3 lakh on selected models. The famous elite class’s choice, Harley-Davidson, even slashed down price of up to Rs.30,000 on their motorbike units.

As per a report, over eight lakh two-wheelers under BS III norm left unsold till March 20 among 6.71 lakh unsold units. However, many automobile dealers in most of the states ran out of stocks on non BS-IV complied motorbikes till noon of March 31.

A total worth over Rs.12,000 crore BS-III complied inventory will turn nothing but metal scrap if not sold by April 1, as per a report.

In 2015-16, 16.4 million two-wheelers were sold to domestic customers in India. A statistic mentioned that two-wheeler manufacturers like TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto suffered a staggering fall of 53.91 per cent in its units’ sales the same period. The bumper discount move, however, was a chance to recover on the plummeting sales in the last one year.

To put a stop on the growing health hazard due to vehicular pollution in the country, the Supreme Court on March 29, issued a ban to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on sales of non-BS-IV compliant vehicles, on and from April 1. This ban is also applicable on the registration of such vehicles after the set deadline.

In view of it, Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd on March 30 launched new variants of motorcycles and scooters compliant with BS-IV norms for the Indian market. Other inventories by Bajaj, HeroMotorcorp, TVS Motors and Honda Motorcycles and Scooters are in the process of up gradation and will be out soon in the market.

Brief on BS norms

The Bharat Stage (BS), which is based on European regulations, is the vehicular norms launched by the government in 2000 to keep a check on air pollution. The standards are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and climate change. This is how Bharat Stage vehicular emission norm came into force.

In 2016, the Indian Government announced that it is considering taking leapfrog from BS-IV norms to BS-VI by 2020. Once it is implemented, automobile owners failing to adhere to the norms may again come under the radar of paying penalties. Right now, the major concern is proper implementation of BS-IV norm.